Unknown Victim

by Kay Hadashi

  “I wanted to look at the nursery section.”

  He led her to an outdoor area with rows of plants positioned beneath shade netting. “You’re new in town?”

  “Not anymore. Been here for almost two whole days now.”

  “Anymore, that makes you an old-timer in Honolulu. What do you think of the house?”

  “A little rustic, but it has a new roof. I have the blisters to prove it.”

  “Felix said you’re staying there?” Brad asked.

  Gina let her police officer’s eye get a second look at Brad, in case she needed to ID him as a suspect later. He had some sort of tic in one eye and a slight tremor in the hand with scars on it. Otherwise, he was an ordinary white guy with more white than blond hair. “Maybe.”

  “Don’t worry about being attacked in your sleep. Nobody goes around there late at night.”

  “Why not?”

  “The place is haunted. Or at least that’s what they say. Anybody that knows the reputation of that old house wants nothing to do with the place after dark.”

  “That’s fine, but I’ve found a homeless guy sleeping on the front porch the last couple of mornings.”

  “Next time you see him, tell him the place is haunted. That’ll keep him away.” He took her to an area of blooming shrubs. “Anyway, Felix said you were a police officer and had shot a priest. Anybody that shoots a priest is going to be left alone in this town.”

  “I didn’t shoot a priest. Who says the house is haunted?” she asked.

  Brad whistled and called for someone named Kyle to come over to join them. He wore a store vest, had on heavy glasses, and his hair went in every direction. He was as thick through the waist as he was in the chest. “This is the lady running the show at the old Tanizawa place.”

  Kyle was as cheerful as Felix had been the first time they met, and shook Gina’s hand with enthusiasm.

  “Isn’t that old house haunted?” Brad asked.

  “Oh, yeah. You’re staying in the house?” Kyle asked Gina.

  “I’ve been hired by the family to rebuild the gardens, and I’ll be living in the house for the next year. Why?”

  “No more hear anything at night?” he asked with what was turning out to be the local accent.

  Gina folded her arms over her chest. “Like what?”

  “Someone walking on the front porch, knocking on the door, something on the roof.”

  “I was just telling Brad that there’s been a homeless guy sleeping on the porch each morning, and a roofer has been redoing the roof the last couple of days. Otherwise, I haven’t heard anything except all those doves in the morning.”

  “Lucky, I guess. Not everyone hears it.” Kyle shrugged his shoulders. “What about the water?”

  “What about it? The place was just replumbed. The toilet doesn’t work, though.”

  “Never has. Is the water too hot?”

  “Hot?” she asked. “Not at all. In fact, it’s never hot. Maybe the water heater isn’t working right?”

  Kyle scratched his head. “Should be okay. It’s not too old.”

  Brad took over in the conversation. “She wants to get the wall paint tinted.”

  “What colors do you want?” Kyle asked.

  She showed him her selections. “Yellow for the kitchen, green for the bathroom, blue for the two smaller bedrooms, and pink for the big bedroom.”

  “Oh, yeah. Good colors. Better than all white like it was before.”

  “You’ve been there?” Gina asked.

  “Everybody’s been in that place, one time or another. Not lately, though. Tell me, does the kitchen still have those old appliances?”

  Gina laughed. “The ice box moans and groans like an old lady, and apparently I can use only one burner on the stove at a time or I’ll burn the house down. Anything I can do about that? Like use a different fuse?”

  “Better to leave the wires alone in that place.”

  “But Millie said the whole place had just been rewired since the last storm?”

  “More to electricity than the wires.”

  “I guess. How do you know so much about the house? Have you worked on it?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Kyle’s one of the Tanizawas,” Brad said.

  “Oh, sorry if I said anything.”

  “No worries. Did you meet any of the family yet?”

  “Just Millie. Otherwise, the only people I’ve met are Felix and the roofer.”

  Kyle made himself busy shuffling things on a display rack. “Millie thinks she runs the estate.”

  “I got that impression. She doesn’t?” Gina asked.

  “Easiest for everybody if we all get along.”

  “Speaking of being easy to get along with, my mornings would be a lot better if I could get a microwave. Do you guys sell any that won’t burn the house down?” she asked.

  Kyle winced. “The family’s trying to get the house listed on some sort of historical thing. I don’t think a microwave would be acceptable. Aren’t you there for the gardens?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was hired for.”

  “Sticking to that would be smart.” Kyle cheered up over something. “Hey, I’ve got a shipment of hibiscus coming later in the week. Come back and take a look at them.”

  “I can put in hibiscus?” she asked.

  “Oh, sure! There used to be a lot of them all around the house. All different colors.”

  “I’m supposed to make the place historically accurate. Maybe if you remember, could you make a little picture for me of what colors went where?”

  “Yeah, sure! I’ll ask around the family so we can get it right.”

  “What about the hot water tank?” she asked. “Can the plumber take a look at it? Maybe turn the temperature up a little?”

  “I’ll talk to him, but the water temperature has always been a little nutty in that house.”

  Gina had gone in for paint colors, and had left with good ideas about shrubs to plant around the house. She’d even made a friend in the Tanizawa family. With that, she was on her way back to the estate. Once again, she was feeling like a stranger in her new home, but at least she had a couple of new friends. And maybe even a haunted hot water tank to deal with.

  Chapter Six

  In the morning, it wasn’t her phone ringing with a call from her sister or hammering on the roof, but a consistent knocking at the front door that woke her. The room not even light yet, she wrapped in her robe and went to the door.

  “Felix?”

  “No.”

  Gina peeked out the window to find the roofer standing there.

  She opened up and peeked out at him. “Hi. I thought we finished the roof yesterday?”

  “You are awake?”

  She pinched her fingers together and asked what he wanted as politely as she could.

  “Get new hot water tank.”

  “Now?” Gina rubbed her eyes with knuckles. “A little early for plumbing, isn’t it?”

  “Sooner started, sooner done.”

  Gina figured his words were a translation from a handy Japanese expression. Wondering if it was at all possible to simply close the door and go back to bed, she knew the roofer was more stubborn than she was. She also knew that she needed a long hot shower like never before.

  “Hardware stores are open this early?”

  “Good ones are.”

  With a second thought about going back to bed, she told him to wait on the porch. She hurried to dress in something appropriate for home repair and a plumbing job, assuming she’d be doing at least some of the labor, and met the roofer at his pickup. The streets were quiet that early in the morning, and the sun was still coming up. He followed the same route as to the hardware store she went to the day before.

  He seemed intent on saying something to her, but was keeping quiet about it.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “Don’t let strangers sleep on your lanai. Not a good idea.”

  “Strang
er? Oh was the homeless guy back again this morning?” she asked.

  “Yah,” he said.

  “Not much I can do about it if he shows up in the middle of the night.”

  “Those guys are trouble. Believe me.” He pulled into the parking lot of the same store she’d been to the day before. When he parked, they were angled to face toward the street. Across the street was a large Catholic church with parishioners going in for an early morning Mass, something she hadn’t noticed the day before. That made Gina wonder if there was more to the trip to the hardware store than just a new hot water tank. “Used to be lots of them, all over the gardens in tents, even living inside the house. Not bad guys one at a time, but bring too much trouble with them.” He looked at her quite intently. “Okay?”

  “Yeah, sure, no homeless people on the grounds. Got it. Are we getting a new tank or not?”

  He led her in but didn’t bother going to the plumbing department, stopping instead at the checkout counter. A boxed tank was already there waiting. He nodded to her to pay with the card she’d gotten from Millie on the first day before wandering off to talk to someone.

  Kyle was the clerk there at checkout. “Howzit, Gina?”

  “I’ll be better in a couple of hours when I’m awake. Apparently, sunrise on Sundays is a good time for major plumbing projects.”

  Kyle laughed cheerfully when he handed her the receipt. “Is Kenzo helping you install the tank?”

  “Is that his name? I hope he is. Otherwise, I’ll be back in a couple of hours trying to return it.”

  Once Gina and the roofer named Kenzo had the hot water tank loaded and secured in the back of his truck, they got in to leave. He didn’t start the engine right away, though. Instead, he nodded at something in front of them.

  “Catholic Church, yah?”

  Gina strained her eyes to read the sign. “Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yep, that would be a Catholic Church.”

  “Three services every Sunday,” he said, as though he already knew something about the place.

  She gave him a hard look, knowing the subtle meaning of why they had gone out so early. “Too bad I have a plumbing project this morning.”

  “Looks like a nice place.”

  “I’m sure it is,” she said.

  “Been there a long time.” When he left the parking lot, he drove slowly past the church sign. “Three times, three choices.”

  Gina eyed the sign more carefully. Two of the services were in English, the early Mass and the afternoon service, while the late morning service was in Filipino. That was the usual time she would go at home with her family, if she were still going to church. She knew from experience that the afternoon services were attended primarily by young adults looking for a social life as much as for spiritual edification.

  “I’d at least need to attend a service in a language I understand. If I’m going to get a guilt trip laid on me, I at least want to know what for.”

  As usual, silence descended between them, which was beginning to wear on her nerves.

  “So, do you do other things besides home repair?”

  “Hanashi banashi for after work.”

  The foreign words were part of his admonition from the day before, and Gina still had no idea what they meant, and didn’t know how to reply. All she could do was wait to get home and go back to bed. It was Sunday, after all, and nobody expected anyone else to work. Instead, they had a plumbing project waiting for them. “Okay.”

  When they got back to the estate, they took the tank to the porch. Waiting there was the same cat as the first two mornings. This time, it simply looked up at her and meowed as though it wanted something.

  “I’m not feeding you,” she said, looking down at the cat. Hesitantly, she reached down to rub behind its ears. “If you want a meal, go find one of those funny looking brown rat things that live in the brambles.”

  While Gina removed the box from around the tank, Kenzo brought a tool box from his truck. It was turning out to be a bigger project than she anticipated, which required turning off the electricity and water to the house. After handing her a wrench, he showed her how to disconnect the old tank from the pipes that led in and out of it.

  “Isn’t it full of water?”

  “Hope not. Been broke for a long time. Pretty smelly water if there is some.”

  Keeping her mental fingers crossed, Gina detached the last of the connections. When only a tiny dribble came out, it was as smelly as he said it might be. It also had a thick rusty appearance.

  They carried that tank out to the back of the house and left it in the weeds. Kenzo said something in Japanese, which to Gina’s ignorant ears, sounded like a curse on the tank. While she cleaned the vacant floor, he brought a few new fittings from his truck. It took another hour before she had been taught how to reconnect the pipes and their new fittings to the replacement tank.

  “Okay, acid test,” he said. “Go turn on the electricity.”

  “We’re not going to burn down the house with this thing?” she asked.

  “Hope not.”

  With a shrug, Gina hit the main breaker and turned on the electricity to the house again. When she got back to the tank, Kenzo tapped a wrench on a valve.

  “Okay, turn on the water.”

  Gina turned the handle on the valve. The sound of water could be heard as it rushed through the pipe and into the tank. He had her open the kitchen sink faucet to let air out of the system.

  “See any drips?” he asked.

  “No. That’s good, right?”

  “Only place water comes out of pipes is from the faucet, and only when you want it to. Know what to do if there’s a leak?”

  “Turn off the water?”

  “Right. Anything else?”

  “Call you,” she said.

  For maybe the first time, she saw him smile. “Try fixing it yourself first. Then call me.”

  Kenzo packed up his tools and went back to his truck, which meant to Gina the job was finished and he was satisfied. And if he was satisfied, she figured she had nothing to worry about. Still, she kept her fingers crossed while making her breakfast, now two hours overdue.

  When she heard a bang on the side of the house, she peeked through louvered windows to see what was going on. She found Kenzo climbing the ladder, once again wearing his tool belt. Bundled under one arm were several old palm fronds.

  She went out to see what he was going to do with them.

  “I thought the roof was done? What’re those for?”

  “Over the porch,” he said, looking down at her. “Bring up more fronds.”

  She found the giant stack of fronds that had been collected. It would take a dozen trips up and down the ladder to get them up to him. Remembering a length of rope she’d seen in a pile of trash, she tied a large bundle of fronds together. The roofer watched while she tossed the other end of the rope up to him. Palm fronds aren’t heavy, so the bundle was easily pulled up. It took only a couple more hoists to get all the new layer of roofing material up to him, and Gina joined him there.

  He was stapling fronds to rafters over the front porch with a heavy stapling gun. The stem end aimed toward the pitch, with the leaves of adjoining fronds overlapping to make a thick matt that would provide shade to the wide porch. She knew better than to start a conversation, but needed to know what was going on.

  “Okay, as a learning experience, why are we putting on these instead of plywood and shingles?” she asked, arranging more fronds for him to staple.

  “No need for something fancy. These blow off, no problem. Just go get more of them.” Stopping with the nailer, he shrugged. “This way look better.”

  Once again, it was as if he timed the job to end at noon. Once they were down, tools put away, and they had bottles of water in their hands, he stood back to admire their handiwork.

  “Good roof,” he said with a nod.

  “Is it done?”

  He nodded. “Done.”

  “I have a question. T
here are these little rats, or squirrels, or whatever that I see running around. They’re not shaped like rats and move a lot faster. What are those?”

  “Mongoose.”

  “I’ve heard of those. They’re okay? Or do I need to get rid of them?”

  He gave her a thumbs-up. “They’re okay. Eat the cockroaches and rats.”

  “They’re good, then?” she asked.

  “Wild animals. Leave them alone.”

  “I saw a green lizard in the kitchen this morning. Was it a gecko?”

  He nodded. “Good luck to have in the house. Leave it alone.”

  “Anything else I should know about the animals around here?” Gina asked.

  “Don’t feed them. Big nuisance if you do. If the pigs and goats get into the vegetable patch, they’ll eat everything.”

  “I found the fence at the top of the hill the other day. It needs some repairs.”

  “Not my problem,” he said.

  “I saw fence posts at the hardware store. Felix can help me with that,” she said to herself, as a mental note to add to her list of things to do that week.

  He gave her a new look, one of apprizing her. “Good idea to fix that now.”

  “On my list, along with about a hundred other things to do. At least I’ll have hot water now.”

  Kenzo looked at the blisters on one of Gina’s hands. “Wear gloves.” He looked at her face. “And a hat.”

  He left Gina alone to her final afternoon off before starting her real job as estate landscape manager the next morning. She still had no idea of what to expect from one day to the next, and was still in the process of outlining what she thought needed to be done to recreate the old garden areas of the estate. She’d been expecting more oversight from the Tanizawas, but so far all she’d got were a couple of short conversations with the somewhat elusive Millie. But before she could call her, Gina needed to call home.

  “Mamma! Guess what I did this morning!”

  “Go to the airport?”

  “No, not coming home yet. But just as good, I installed a new hot water heater in the house. Okay, I had a lot of help, but I did most of the work.”

  “Work on plumbing more important than going to church?”

  “I haven’t had a hot shower in a while, Mamma. But I found a church if I go in the future.”